ESPN – Brewers vs. Braves Box Score, September 21 2007 – MLB
Complete games suck. An apparent attempt to get Tim Hudson another one backfired tonight, when his 116th pitch of the night was lined to right for a game-tying single. Some overmanaging and poor relief work followed, and it was 3-1 by the end of the eighth and 4-1 entering the bottom of the ninth.
Hudson was excellent until two out in the eighth, and rarely threatened. He struck out five, walked two (the last an intentional walk to the last batter he faced) and allowed eight hits (only five to that point). He gets a loss. Life sucks sometimes.
The Braves didn’t do much offensively. Teixeira hit a solo homer leading off the second, but they had only four more hits. Chipper and Renteria both went 0-4 and fell to .340 and .333 respectively. Holliday struck out his first time up.
Hope sucks. Avoid it.
Andruw Jones strikes out in so many different ways. Here’s a short list of strike-out pitches opposing pitchers have developed and their corresponding signs:
One finger: Your typical fastball. Throw anywhere except down the middle.
Patting the ground: Throw the ball in the dirt and watch Andruw look silly. Somehow Jeff Francouer turns this pitch into a bloop single.
Two palms up: Stick the baseball in your back pocket but pretend to go into your wind up anyway.
Point a thumb at him: Have the catcher dare him to hit a home run.
The stare: Just stare at Andruw Jones until he eventually concedes the at bat and walks to the dugout.
As ESPN asked, is John Schuerholz the man to get rid of a player before his time of to get rid of a player one year after his time?
Please don’t pay Andruw Jones 10+ million to hit .220 and put up a .314 OBP again next season. I’ve seen enough, thank you.
Why is Yates pitching in that situation? Is Moylan hurting?
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/rumors/post/Braves-may-cut-payroll;_ylt=AgNTMQXEAl0N5aodCjHsw8o5nYcB?urn=mlb,46138
I don’t know where is the source of this rumor but it better not be true.
Crummy game–what happened to the juggernaut offense? It looked more like a bunch of sleepwalkers.
kc–I was also wondering about the use of Yates instead of Moylan. Just another instance of bizarro bullpen use. I also didn’t get Escobar over KJ.
Scary rumor–especially after trading away a bunch of young and cheap players.
I am not too concerned with the prospects traded away. I still don’t think anyone of them will be any good besides Salty. Harrison, Jones, and Perez are over-hyped. I am quite confident that only Perez has any chance to be special, and he is still at least three years away. Elvis is a very high risk player as Mac has mentioned.
However, if we do not have a healthy payroll, we will have to live with AAAA players like Yates, Harris, Carlyle, and Bennett playing important roles for a long long time…
$54.3 million is tied up with Chipper, Hudson, Smoltz, and Hampton alone. Even if they only cut the payroll by $10 million, that’s only $24.7 million for the rest of the team. Yikes.
Though I feel bad for the guy, it’s hard not to resent Mike Hampton.
Again, Liberty promised the other owners, when they took over the team, that they would raise payroll. The owners lie all the time, but they don’t like being lied to in turn.
Anyway, this is a single report, issuing from the Philly paper, that goes against everything that the Atlanta reporters have been saying for several months. So let’s wait until DOB, or Carroll, or Peanut, has something to say about it.
The rumor comes from here:
http://www.philly.com/dailynews/sports/20070921_Paul_Hagen___Counting_more_on_bullpens.html
I think it’s totally bogus. It completely contradicts everything that people who actually know this stuff, like say David O’Brien of the AJC, have been saying.
And now DOB does have something to say.
Thanks, Mac.
I still resent Mike Hampton.
Another comment from DOB:
“If the Braves decide to move Renteria, one other potential suitor has emerged: Detroit.
The Tigers might move Carlos Guillen to first base in 2008, and if they do they’d almost certainly be looking for a solid SS replacement.
Jim Leyland likes Renteria about as much as any player he’s ever manged, I can assure you from comments he made back when I covered Jim’s Marlins in 1997-98, and from comments Jim made again to me after the Braves traded for Renteria.
Just something to keep in mind.”
Who do you think we would (potentially, at this point obviously) end up getting from Detroit? I’m assuming Bonderman & Verlander would be untouchable (unless they’ve lost their luster in management’s eyes, which I have not heard), but don’t know who else would be worth giving up Renty to get…
We could trade him for a package of Macay McBride, Zach Miner, and Jose Capellan.
I dunno. I haven’t paid much attention to the Tigers this year, except for Granderson. Nate Robertson seems more like a 4 than a 3. What’s the deal with Zumaya?
Batting race update:
Chipper, 0-4 today, .340
Holliday, 0-5, .337
Renteria, 0-4, .333
Scores (as per previous thread):
Bessemer 42, LSA 0
Macon-East 34, Pike 0
Cottage Hill 19, Hooper 7
Fort Dale 24, Monroe 14
Pickens 41, Edgewood 19
Faith 50, Morgan 16
Clarke Prep 68, Taylor Rd 12
Glenwood 34, Tuscaloosa 0
I go 6-2 in high school pick’em.
here’s who we want for Renteria:
Andrew Miller.
End of Story. Nobody else. The kid is NASTY as is 6’4″, lefty with a 95 mph fastball and a great slider and change.
Hell, i’d even go so far as throw in Reyes to make them feel better about giving up a starter.
Memo to Bobby: pitch your bad relievers in the 8th and 9th of blowouts and save your good relievers for the 8th and 9th in close games. This should be elementary after 3 decades of managing but apparently not.